Greers Ferry Fishing Report 4/7/09

[Cody Smith]

Greers Ferry is Currently at 462.08 ft and rising slightly due to the generators being shut down for a brief period. Roller Coaster might be the best way to describe the fishing here on Greers the past week. To wards the later part of March we saw Great Action on All species along with water temperatures pushing the low 60's at times and consistently staying around the upper 50's. Not the case this first week of April. Water temperatures plummeted and the major bite went with it, after two cold fronts we had push into the area. Surface temperatures dropped down to 50.1 degrees on the south basin during the last week and are only warming to the 51 - 52 degree mark. Now the North end is a different story, water temps fell off but not this drastically. Surface temperatures are ranging in the mid to upper 50's during the afternoon hours.

Last weekend there where 2 tournaments out of Devil's Fork. This put a lot of boats on the water and a lot of pressure on the fish, even in the windy condition's. We fished the Arkie Cup for the Arkansas Children's hospital on Saturday with a 9th place finish out of 113 boats. We weighed in 10.78 with the winner weighing in over 12lbs. Big Fish was 6.01lbs. The bite was tuff and you had to catch your fish in the WIND. All of my fish that where staging quickly retreated to more stable water temps and dropped out of the shallow stuff. My partner and I boated all of our keeper fish after 10 o'clock when the sun came out. We boated over 15 keepers on the day and probably 25 fish total. We weighed 1 Smallie, 1 Largemouth and 3 Spot's after culling ounces throughout the afternoon. All of our fish came out of 9 - 18 feet of water back in there staging location's on points, secondary points and main lake ledges. Finesse worms on a Drop Shot, Shaky Head rigs and the All powerfull Jig got every bite we had. Congratulation's to the Winner and Arkansas Children's Hospital.

The larger female white bass and Hybrids that where pushing up all the major arms seemed to have really shut down and back out after last week. Most have backed out to there pre spawn location's and will make a major push again once water temps stabilize and warm some. Give it through the weekend and we should be back to outstanding fishing in these major arms. Don't get me wrong, you can still boat a few however most are the smaller males that refuse to retreat and would rather wait on the females to push back in.

Our Walleye population is scattered from 2 feet of water down to 18 feet depending on your location on the reservoir. During this shot of colder air we are experiencing the bite has been brutal. Stick with Crawlers and Large minnows when pursuing our eyes. Focus on small breaks in the current and isolated chunk rock in the arms to locate a few. Some of our eyes on the main lake can be caught on main lake gravel points and sheer bluff ledges where they are recovering from the spawn. During the next couple of weeks we should really see a push in activity from this species and the bite will definitely improve as the water warms.

Our Crappie have been extremely tuff during the last week, at least in my boat. We went from consistently boating a mess every trip out to almost a non-existent bite. These fish have backed off in a major way but will make there push up shallow in the coming days with warming weather. Focus on 45 degree banks and flats back in main lake pockets for these spawning fish. Black and Chartreuse, Black and Blue, and Blue and White 2" tube jigs will be best when fished slowly through standing timber and buck brush tight to the bank in 2 - 6 feet of water.

Overall, look for the bite to rebound swiftly as the water temps climb back into the upper 50's and lower 60's. Stick with it and have patience to boat your fish right now. This weekend is calling for warmer weather and warmer southerly winds. This will help our fishery tremendously. Overall things where starting to happen just a tad early this year and this shot of northern air simply put things back in order. C-ya on the water, better days are ahead~